Assist with SHRI's COVID-19 Response Efforts

Dear Friends and Family, 

I hope that you are all doing well. It is hard to believe that 2021 is almost over! What a year it has been. First, I would like to thank everyone that donated to our COVID-19 response efforts earlier in the year. As a small organization, we tried our hardest to play whatever small role we could in helping those impacted by the deadly wave that hit India in April/May. Thank you again for that support. 

I am so proud of our entire team in India that persisted through that unimaginable tragedy. They kept working throughout the second wave, and positioned have helped ensure that the organization continues growing. For example, we just started construction on our 9th and 10th facilities, both of which will be located in Jharkhand. We also launched the first version of our monitoring and evaluation system in order to track facility use and quality. We are going to conitinue building on this system so that we capture more indicators of use and quality. This system will eventually enable us to measure our health, social, and economic impact. 

Our hope for 2022 is that we can build on this on this progress. We hope to partner with the government to scale our efforts in Jharkhand, and that we can continue demonstrating our impact. Now, more than ever, ensuring safe and hygienic sanitation facilities is essential in India. 

Thank you again for all of your support. We could not do what we do with your help. 

Wishing you all happy holidays, and a very happy new year!

Anoop

Dear Friends and Family, 

I hope that this note finds you all doing well and keeping safe. The COVID-19 situation in India has improved since I last emailed you all. Nevertheless, there are still major vaccination and medical supply shortages plaguing the health care system. Additionally, many of SHRI' beneficiaries have had to endure a very heavy monsoon season that has caused major flooding, further cutting communities off from essential services. 

As such, SHRI's team in Bihar prioritized distributing rations to 200 households that were severely impacted by the flooding. Many of these families had to relocate from their villages to higher ground - often the side of the road - and were living in tents. We provided these families, which had already been deleteriously impacted by the pandemic, with food, plastic tarp covering, and other essential goods in order to help them through this time. 

We also just received six oxygen concentrators that were generously donated to us by the Heart to Heart International. There was an extreme oxygen shortage in the midst of the last COVID-19 spike in India. As such, we will be donating these devices to primary care health centers in the area where SHRI works. We hope that this very modest contribution will help clinics better serve patients in the event of a third wave this fall. 

Moving forward, we are going to be saving the left over funds we have raised for our COVID-19 response in case there is a third wave this fall. We want to be able to support families with food and supplies in case there is another spike. We are also going to continue distributing masks and spreading awareness about how to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and the importance of social distancing and getting vaccinated. 

As always, thank you for your ongoing support, and for taking the time to read our updates. Take good care, and enjoy the day. 

Anoop

Dear Friends and Family, 

I hope that this note finds you all doing well. I wanted to write to you all with a quick update on the progress SHRI has made in responding to COVID-19. 

Thanks to your incredible generosity, we have raised over $26,000 in just a few weeks. These funds have been used to purchase essential supplies that have been distributed to over 200 households. Over 160 of these households belong to the Scheduled Caste community, one of India's most marginalized social groups. The remaining rations have been distributed to other disenfranchised households including those with members that are disabled or widows. As a part of this ration kit we included rice, lentils, soybeans, salt, sanitary napkins, soap, and masks. So far we have distributed rations three times, and are hoping to do another round in the coming weeks. 

Additionally, we have used these funds to source 100 pulse oximeters from a local distributor within India. A pulse oximeter is a small noninvasive and painless devise that clips on to a finger in order measure blood oxygen saturation levels, a critical component of COVID care. So far we have distributed these devices to 50 different households. There was a dearth of these types of medical supplies at the start of the second COVID-19 wave in India, particularly in rural areas. While our efforts are just a drop in the bucket, we hope these devices will help local households. 

I also want to acknowledge the incredible work of my colleagues, Lakshmi Gopalakrishnan, Dr. Vasundhara Rangaswamy, Dr. Shipra Grover, and Anuja Jani for putting together some amazing infographics pertaining to home care in low-resource settings. These can be found here. Please do share these with your friends and colleagues in India as they are a very valuable resource. 

We are relieved that the number of new cases continues falling every day throughout India. However, there is much work left to be done. I will continue updating you all as our work progresses. 

As always, thank you for your time and support. 

Enjoy the day, 

Anoop

Dear Friends and Family, 

I hope that this note finds you all keeping well. It is hard to believe that the pandemic is over a year old now. While India had made progress towards flattening the curve earlier this year, it now appears that the new variant is wreaking havoc. At the time of me writing this report, there were over 260,000 confirmed new Covid cases there in the past 24-hours. Needless to say, the situation in India is dire. 

Our facilities remain open as they have been deemed an essential service by the government. All of our staff have the appropriate personal protective equipment, and no one is allowed in to our facilities without a mask. We have not noticed a drop is usage over the past two weeks, but we will continue to monitor our data as this situation unfolds. 

Our aim is to open five new facilities by the end of April in 2022, and develop the first version of a monitoring and evaluation system. We plan to do this in Bokaro, the district where we currently operate in Jharkhand. We remain hopeful that we will be able to achieve these goals despite this second wave in India. As always, I will keep you all updated. 

Thank you again for supporting our efforts. Please take good care of yourselves and your loved ones. 

Anoop 

Dear Friends and Family, 

I hope that this note finds you all doing well. It's hard to believe that this year is finally coming to an end. 

This year was certainly challenging for SHRI. The pandemic prevented us from scaling as we had originally envisioned. Yet, we were able to keep all of our existing facilities open (they were deemed essential by the government), and we fortunately did not have to down-size our staff at all. As such, we feel incredibly grateful that through this year, we were able to continue providing essential water and sanitation services to our beneficiaries. 

The pandemic has underscored the importance of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. As such, we are formulating a new plan with regards to working with the government to scale our work in 2021. We look forward to sharing those updates with you early in the new year. As always, we thank you for your continued support. 

On behalf of my entire team, I'd like to wish you all a very happy and healthy new year!

Sincerely, 

Anoop Jain